This invention pertains to product processing and/or treatment apparatus, and in particular to means for laterally spacing juxtaposed, elongate products.
While not limited thereto, the invention has an especial application in the processing of frozen fish sticks, in which application the sticks are forced apart, laterally, to accommodate for breading thereof and/or other treatment.
Fish sticks, according to a known method of their production are formed from frozen fillets which have been cut into parallel pieces, i.e., sticks. The more efficient and sanitary method of cutting the fillets is by means of jets of pure water from waterjet cutting equipment such as is manufactured and marketed by Ingersoll-Rand Company via its facility in Baxter Springs, Kans.
Sticks resulting from the jet cutting, for still being frozen, adhere to each other. Especially is this so because the cutting jets are so fine that the lines of severance are difficult to discern, and the sticks adhere due to the frost and/or surface tension. Alignment of the lines of severance with a plow-type spreader is not practical; the cuts, typically, are but six thousandths of an inch in width. Accordingly, there obtains a need for a new means for laterally spacing such juxtaposed elongate products, be they fish sticks or otherwise.